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"You Make Loving Fun" - Fleetwood Mac
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"And there it is!" She threw her hands in the air and brought them back so they rested on her lap. "Now use your big boy words and tell me what you know."
He grumbled under his breath.
"I'm sorry, I said big boy words."
He looked at her annoyed. She does know I'm her senior, right? Father, help my brother. He shook his head and repeated what he said.
"Yes, I know Griff Kelly…" he lied, again.
"And what do you know?" Holy Heaven, that worked? Michael played it cool and gave Chloe useless information.
"Not much," he looked down at his knuckles and tried to tap into last night's conversation with Charles. He did mention a Kelly, but he thought it was a woman. "To be honest, I thought it was a woman. Seems I misinterpreted the connection…"
Chloe folded her arms across her chest, she wasn't fully convinced he was giving her all the information.
"We have footage of you taking Charles into the back room for two hours. Two hours, Michael. You aren't giving me any information, why?" she was annoyed now.
"Because it's not irrelevant to your case. What I talked to Charles about was business."
"Michael…" She brought her hands together in front of her nose so it was like she was praying. She wasn't praying, she was trying to prevent herself from verbally assaulting Michael in front of the whole precinct. Chloe took a short deep breath and brought her hands down. "May I remind you I am an officer of the LAPD, not your friend right now."
"Well that's rather harsh of you to say Chloe, because I consider you a sister…"
The two stared at each other as if they were having a staring contest. Neither one of them wanted to stand down. Michael hated it when she used her weight on being an officer and Chloe hated it when he thought he was above the law.
After a minute, Chloe looked away. She stood from spot on the desk and gave herself a minute to calm down. It was times like these that were the hardest for her. Michael and Lucifer were identical when it came to their secrets. Of course Lucifer never lied, he told the truth, but at the time she thought they were lies. With Michael physically lying to her face and keeping the truth from her, just showed how much she missed Lucifer. It broke her heart. She missed having her partner with her.
Michael stood from the chair and walked over to Chloe. He hesitantly laid his hand on her shoulder and turned her around.
He knew he was being difficult and her anger was because of him. He brought her into a hug and let her just forget for a second. She immediately wrapped her arms around him and imagined he was Lucifer.
"I'm sorry," he said against her hair. "If the car belonged to Griff Kelly I would look into it. I don't know the guy, but I can tell you it's probably a lead. I can also tell you, Mazikeen is one the job, but nothing more."
"Maze is looking for Griff Kelly?" she said, pulling away from Michael. He pulled his arms off of her and she did the same. The two stepped out of each other's embrace and went back to talking about the case.
"Maze is looking for Charles' killer, if the killer is Griff Kelly, she'll find him. She has an hour lead on the LAPD. No doubt she'll find him by the end of the day."
"Oh… then why did you bother lying to me?"
Michael shrugged, "I like ryeling you up," he playfully punched her shoulders. She slapped his fists away, but showed the first sight of a smile since he offered her the flowers. "Oh look! A smile!" He turned around and plucked a flower out from the bouquet. He snapped off the long stem and placed it behind her ear. "For good fortune."
"You're a kiss ass, you know that?"
He shot her a smile and pinched her cheek, "I know."
She rolled her eyes and pushed him out of the way. She plopped herself on her desk and pulled her phone off the desk. She began typing out a message for Dan informing him Maze was already out looking for Griff Kelly. Once the message was sent she looked up to see Michael looking for someone.
"Looking for Ella?"
Michael turned around shaking his head.
"Michael," she said with a serious tone.
"Fine… yes. How long do you think it'll be until she returns?"
"Michael… I told you to leave her, to her work. She doesn't need you distracting her."
"I won't distract her, I promise. I just want to ask her out on a date."
"A date?" she found that hard to believe. Michael had never shown any interest in women and when he did, it was for one night stands. Nothing more.
"Yes. If not a date, a bite to eat. She has to eat right? What time is it?" he pulled his arm out so he could look at his watch. "It's nine thirty-seven … a little early for lunch, but I'm willing to wait."
"You want to take Ella out for lunch? What's your angle?" she really wasn't buying anything he was saying.
"No angle, just want to treat Miss Lopez out for lunch. She intrigued my interest while she was taking samples of my hands."
Chloe leaned forward and lowered her voice, "you know she doesn't know you're an angel, right? You can't go blabbing."
"Blabbing? I highly doubt she'd believe anything I have to say even if I did 'blab'," he made sure to use air quotes to express his point. "She's known my brothers for how long? And she doesn't believe them. Her innocence to celestials existing will stay in tack."
He had a point. She didn't believe Lucifer until she saw his face. Dan still refused to believe Michael.
"Fine… she left about thirty minutes ago. She should…" Chloe saw Ella out of the corner of her eye. She used her eyes to notify Michael that Ella was behind him. His eyes widened and he began dusting off his shirt. Chloe smiled as she watched Michael try to correct his features.
Ella walked over into her lab ignorant that Michael was in the vicinity. Michael watched her head inside. He had butterflies. He wasn't sure he could do this. He turned to Chloe with a panicked look on his face.
"What?"
"I just remembered she could say no to me. The thought of rejection never felt so terrifying until now…"
Chloe let out a chuckle, "look at you. I've never seen you so on edge." Michael turned away from her so she didn't sense his nervousness next. Chloe leaned over her table and applied her hand to his lower back. She pushed him in the direction of Ella's lab. "Go before I call her over."
"You wouldn't dare!" he turned around scared. Chloe let out a laugh, but bit her tongue. He looked back over to Ella and watched her move about her lab. "Jacket on or off?" he was already taking his jacket off. She didn't understand why he even asked. He tossed it over to her smacking her right in the face. "Apologises…"
He pulled a flower out of the bouquet and slowly made his way over to Ella.
"He's going to fall flat on his ass…" Chloe said to herself. She shook her head when she saw Michael let himself into Ella's lab. She went ahead and pulled out her phone to message Maze. She already had a message from Dan.
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Michael's feet seemed to drag as if he had cement blocks tied to the bottom. His heart was beating out of his chest. He couldn't feel his tongue. The flower in his hand seemed to shake as he walked closer to Ella's lab.
Afraid he say something embarrassing, Michael cleared his throat to notify Ella he was at her door. He quickly hid the flower behind his back to keep it a secret.
Ella looked up from her notes and let the biggest smile spread across her face. She was happy to see him.
Michael felt the wave of anxiety that built up from Chloe's desk to Ella's front door, wash away.
"Well if it isn't the infamous Michael, come in, come in." She motioned for him to step inside. Michael did as he was instructed and slid into the room. "It's nice to see you out of the club. I started to think Lucifer had you chained to the inside of the building."
Michael let out a soft chuckle, "I leave from time to time. Rarely… but I do."
He could tell she was joking with him, so he played along. Interested to know her work space, Michael moved over to the other side of the room and looked over her lab equipment. Ella closed up her folders and watched Michael move about her area.
It gave her time to look over his form. She couldn't keep her eyes from raking over his body. She had to admit he was more toned than Lucifer. His biceps alone were the size of her head. She fanned herself with her folder as he turned away and showed his backside to her.
"You have a nice work space," he called out. Ella put the folder down when he turned around. She had not heard a word Michael had just said. She was too busy looking at his ass.
"I'm so sorry," she let out a nervous chuckle, "can you repeat what you just said?"
Michael oblivious to what distracted her, just smiled. "I said you have a nice work space."
"Oh! No yeah. I'm blessed they gave me such a large work area. You should have seen mine back in Chicago," she made a face remembering how small it was, "budging was pretty tight."
"Is that why you move over here?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "I can't really explain what made me want to head over to the west coast. Glad I did."
Michael walked over to her table and hid the flower in his back pocket, he wasn't ready to give it to her just yet. He leaned against the table top and waited for her to continue.
"Why's that?" he asked.
She shrugged her shoulders, "I kinda had a rough past. I'm sure you can relate to that," she motioned towards his hands.
He pulled himself up off the table and hid his hands, "oh! I'm sorry… I didn't mean…"
"No no… that's fine. You're right. My past is a little…" he wasn't sure how to word his past. He settled for a facial expression.
"Totally understand, not going to bring up those memories."
Michael let out a chuckle, "I'm not fragile, you know? I'm alright with talking about my past."
"We don't have to talk about that, we just met… and…"
"Right!" he smiled over at her and pulled the flower out his back pocket. Her eyes widened as he pulled it out of nowhere. She knew he was hiding something but she didn't expect it to come out of nowhere.
"Where did you…"
He winked at her, "magic." She playfully pushed him away and took the single peony out of his hand. "Sorry it's not a bouquet, afraid my back pocket wasn't designed for anything bigger than a single flower."
"Thank you," she brought it up to her nose so she could smell it.
"I know you have to get back to work and I can feel the eyes of a certain Detective spying on us," the two looked over to the front door and saw Chloe trying to be inconspicuous. Chloe turned away immediately. They both laughed as they caught her. "So I'll make this quick and get out of your way... I was wondering if I could take you out for lunch today."
Ella pulled her eyes up to Michael and nodded her head. "I'd like that."
The two held each other's focus for a while just smiling at one another. They heard footsteps walking towards them, followed by a knock. They finally pulled from each other's gaze when Chloe cleared her throat.
"Dan got a call saying they found Griff Kelly's car abandoned over in La Brea park. We're going to need you at the scene Ella." Chloe left to give the two room to say goodbye.
"I… seems I gotta go, again... Raincheck on the lunch?"
"Oh… you don't think you'll be done in time for lunch?"
Ella shook her head and placed the flower on her desk. She started collecting her forensic bag when Michael stopped her. He picked the flower up from her desk and placed it behind her ear.
"Since I know how time consuming your work can be, how about we push back our plans and move it over to dinner instead of lunch?"
"Oh… I'm not entirely dressed for a dinner date…" she looked down at her childish t-shirt. Michael had not even noticed the tiger with sunglasses print on her chest. He shot her a smile and dismissed the worry.
"Nothing fancy then…. We can grab burgers or hotdogs over in La Brea…"
"La Brea? You do know it's not going to take me all day to go over the car right?"
"I know… I was jumping back to lunch."
"You're persistent aren't you?" Ella had to give it to Michael, he wasn't standing down.
"Is that a deal breaker? Because if it is, I can totally wait until you're off work to take you out for dinner instead. Tiger shirt and all included."
Ella shook her head, "No it's not. I like a man who doesn't back down." She turned over to the front door and gave Chloe a signal to give her another minute. Chloe tapped at her wrist signalling her to hurry. Ella turned back to Michael saddened she'd have to probably turn him down for dinner as well. The case wasn't going anywhere so she'd have to spend the whole night going over evidence from the car. "You know what… How about you tag along with us, it'll be like Lucifer never left."
"You're allowing me to go on a run with you?" He wasn't expecting that. "Is that something I can actually do?"
"We can ask Chloe, it's not like people know you're Michael. I've seen you parade around here pretending to be Lucifer..."
She had him there. He had used his brother's name to get out of a jam here and there. No one actually knew he was not his brother. He led the way out of the lab so they could get approval from Chloe.
The two walked out of her lab and over to Chloe who was waiting for Ella to say her goodbyes to Michael. Chloe tossed Michael's jacket over to him, much like he did when he left to see Ella. The blue jacket smacked right into Michael's face causing Chloe to smile.
"Ready to go Ella?"
"Yeah… but before we go… would it be too much if Michael accompanied us?" Ella asked. Michael finished putting his jacket back on and moved over to Chloe's side to wrap his arm over her shoulder.
"I believe I can bring some insight. I'm more useful and attentive than my brother."
Chloe couldn't believe he was even asking, but he was right. He could prove to be useful in this case. She sighed.
"You have to ask Dan, I'm not the leading Detective on this case…"
Michael dropped his arms and rushed over to the man. Dan was talking to a few uniformed officers off to the side of his desk. He immediately wrapped his arm around over the detective's shoulder, like he did with Chloe, and gave him a big smile.
"Yes Michael?" Dan asked with a laugh.
"Daniel, you know how much I appreciate you, right?"
"What do you want Michael?" he pushed the angel off of him so they could stand face to face.
"To tag along…"
"Whatever for?"
Michael looked over to Chloe and Ella, Dan instantly understood.
"She's working Michael…"
"No, I know. Hear me out," he motioned for the women to come over. "I can assist you with this case, better than my brother would in fact. I'm willing to give you who you really want, in return for a ride along."
The women walked over to the group waiting to hear Dan's orders.
"We'll meet you at the car, Dan and I have to talk," Michael clarified. Chloe pulled Ella along, both walked up the stairs leaving Michael and Dan alone.
"What do you mean, you'll give me who I really want?" Dan crossed his arms over his chest.
"Griff Kelly may not be your killer…"
"Who do you think is the killer?"
"Hank Abbott."
"What makes you think he's who we're looking for?"
"Charles named him as the man who was tracking him…" Dan dropped his arms ready to yell at Michael for withholding information. "Easy Danny boy, I already have Mazikeen on the job. I'm doing this by the books, don't worry."
"Then why were you keeping this from Chloe and I?"
"I have Maze looking for something for me. I wanted to make sure she had time to find it before she handed Hank over to the police."
"What is it you want that you think Hank might have?"
Michael groaned. It was none of Dan's business. "The Favor… now please, I've given you more than enough information. More than I've given Chloe. May I please tag along, so I can have my lunch date with Ella?"
"You gave up all that information for a lunch date with Ella? Didn't Chloe yell at your ass?"
"Yes… and your point is?"
Dan shook his head, he knew Michael liked pissing Chloe off, but this was going to send her into a fit of rage. He let out a chuckle and slapped his hand on Michael's back. Wrong side, Michael winced as the man slapped his injured side.
"Shit sorry man."
"That's fine… so can I tag along?"
"Only if I get to ride in your car, you did bring it right?" Michael smiled. He pulled out his keys to show Dan he brought it. "I can't believe you own a '68 fastback. Can I drive it?"
"One thing at a time Daniel. You may ride in it, but I'll drive."
Dan was fine with that, he motioned for the two to take off. Michael followed Dan up the stairs and over to the elevator.
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When Ella and Chloe got to the crime scene, they found a 2005 white Honda Civic, owned by a Mr. Griff Kelly, outside the La Brea tar pits smashed into a palm tree. They pulled up on the passenger side and came to a full stop. Ella immediately jumped out of the car and got to work looking over the scene.
"Aye caramba! This guy totally lost control of the wheel."
"I'll check in with the officers who called it in and see if they can give us a rundown on what happened."
"I'll start taking pictures and analyzing the scene." Ella wasted no time pulling her camera out. Blood ran along the driver side of the car, both inside and out. No doubt Mr. Kelly's blood.
A pair of officers walked over to Chloe immediately, one eagerly smiling at Chloe as the other pulled him to chill out. Chloe smiled as she remembered the times when she was new to the job. The eager cop was probably new to the scene.
"Are you Detective Espinoza?" a rooke asked. Chloe shook her head.
"I'm Detective Chloe Decker, I'm assisting on the case." Before she could ask anything about the scene, the rooke jumped forward with his hand extended.
"Officer Brian, I'm a big fan of your Detective. Impeccable close rate, phenomenal work out in the field... It is an honor to have you here."
Chloe shook the officer's hand, she let a smile spread over her face. She'd never had another officer get so excited to work with her.
"Oh! Why thank you Brian. How long have you been on the force?"
He pulled his hand away embarrassed, he straightened his spine and plastered a professional front on his face. Chloe smiled at his partner, the poor woman was shaking her head.
"He's a month in," the woman said, "he's still learning as you can tell. I'm sorry Detective."
"No no that's okay, it's nice to get recognized for my work as a Detective."
Before Officer Brian could mention anything about his obsession with hot tub high school, Officer Hicks spoke up, "will Detective Espinoza be joining us? I had hoped he'd be here, we spoke over the phone not too long ago."
"We took separate cars… he should…" Chloe stopped when she heard music off in the distance. "He's here right now actually."
The roar of Michael's car pulled everyone 's attention from the scene. The angel loved to bring attention to his car. And what better way, than to blast '80 rock music over his speakers. Michael pulled up right besides Chloe's car. She could see Michael and Dan pretending to be rockstars in the front. Chloe shook her head. They are too comfortable around each other.
Ella dropped what she was doing and embodied the heart eyes emoji as the '68 Mustang fastback pulled up besides Chloe's car. She slowly walked over to the Mustang and watched as Michael and Dan pushed themselves out of the vehicle.
"Why hello, Miss Lopez," Michael addressed Ella with a bright smile.
Ella couldn't seem to stop staring at Michael's car, her mouth was dropped down to the ground running her hand over the paint. Michael could see the excitement across her face.
"No way! This is your car?" she started jumping up and down as the realization of the car in front of her was in deed Michael. He came up behind her and showed her the car keys. She squealed as he dangled the keys in front of her, asking her if she'd like to drive it.
"Ella! Not now. We have work to do," Chloe called out. Dan started laughing as Chloe was the only one acting responsible. Ella moved away from Michael and went back to looking over the vehicle smashed into the palm tree. Michael kept to himself and watched Ella work from the side of his car. He didn't want to get in the way of her job, so he leaned against the car and kept his hands in front of him. He waved over Chloe motioning to her he'd be a good angel.
"Relax Chlo, it's not often Michael pulls out the Mustang. You have to admit, it's a sick ride."
Chloe just shook her head and turned to Dan, "you know he played you just so he could tag along right?"
Dan shrugged his shoulder, he knew for a fact Michael was the one who lost out on this deal. He turned over to the uniformed officers and began their run through. "Detective Espinoza, what did you gather from the eyewitnesses?"
"Multiple people stated that a woman stepped in front of the car causing the driver to swerve," officer Brian spoke up.
"No doubt that'd be Maze," Chloe said. Dan nodded his head, he'd gotten confirmation from Michael while they were driving to the scene.
"They uh… they said she ripped the door off? I'm not sure that was the actual case, but the missing door was caused by the confrontation between the driver and mystery woman," the officer added in.
"Definitely Maze," Chloe and Dan said together.
"You two know who did this?" the senior officer asked.
"A bounty hunter of ours, she… uses more force than necessary sometimes. Did the eyewitness say anything about her kidnapping the driver?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah…" officer Higgs looked at the detectives with worry.
Michael looked over towards the officers to see if the coast was clear, as he saw them in deep conversation, he moved over towards Ella. He made sure to give her some distance, he didn't want to get in her way. He walked over to the passenger side so he could talk to her easier.
She looked breathtaking. A woman in her element, just lost in her work. Nothing looked more attractive to Michael, than watching Ella do her job.
Ella could see him staring at her from the corner of her lens. Once she was finished recording all the blood splatter and glass fragments, she angled her camera up and took a picture of him. He wasn't expecting her to snap a photo of him. She looked down at what she'd taken.
"Hey!" Michael let out a chuckle.
"Hey yourself," she smiled. "You have an interest in forensic work?" she asked peeking up from her camera.
"Me?" he pointed to himself, she nodded her head. "More for the work that goes into it. Or to be honest, the woman working the forensic work…" he shot her a smile. Ella hid her blush behind her lens and pretended to take pictures. "I believe it works best when you click on the button." Ella blushed harder as Michael caught her.
"I'm focusing…" she replied, Michael nodded his head.
"Right, right." He knew she was lying but he played along. "Would you like me to help? I know a thing or two on camera." He started walking over to the driver side when he heard Chloe's voice scold him.
"She is working Michael!" The angel stopped dead in his tracks and went back to his side of the car.
He could hear the faint whispers of Ella voicing her apology as he backed away.
